Ian Wright pinpoints worrying sign for Spurs in relegation battle: ‘That don’t look good!’ | Football
Arsenal legend Ian Wright feels Tottenham might have ‘checked out already’ after one moment in the north London derby last weekend.
The Gunners secured a dominant 4-1 win at the home of their local rivals on Sunday on a nightmare afternoon for Spurs.
As Arsenal re-established a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, Tottenham were left mired in a relegation scrap, just four points above the drop zone.
It looks likely to be a three-way battle to avoid 18th place between Spurs, Nottingham Forest and West Ham, while Leeds are not entirely safe yet, but are in a strong position, two points and one place above Tottenham.
Defeat to Arsenal was no surprise, but Wright felt a clip from the match which went viral was a very worrying sign for Spurs.
A video showed newly appointed interim manager Igor Tudor telling centre-back Micky van de Ven to push up, with the Dutch defender not responding at all and the boss eventually giving up.
Wright feels it was a sign of a player who has already given up, saying on The Overlap: ‘Against Arsenal I saw Igor Tudor trying to speak to Van de Ven and he blanked him, totally blanked him. That says to me they’ve checked out already.
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‘He’s blanked him! This guy’s new, he wants him to come up, looking at Van de Ven and he just stayed there. That don’t look good!’
Roy Keane was on The Overlap with Wright and was not so pessimistic, declaring Wright’s ‘checked out’ comment as ‘harsh’.
‘It was a tough start for him, Arsenal,’ Keane said of Tudor’s first game in charge of Spurs.
‘I still think they’ll be ok, but I’m not falling for this one, “they’re too good to go down,” no. But the games they’ve got coming up, I think they’ll find a bit more than Forest and West Ham.
‘West Ham have got a little bit of momentum going and big game coming up this weekend, Forest was a killer blow, last minute [defeat] to Liverpool. These are all little momentum-turners, they can change week-to-week.
‘I still think Tottenham will have enough to stay up.’
Former Spurs midfielder Danny Murphy has also backed Tudor to get his team out of the relegation mire.
‘I would be really surprised if they weren’t able to fight their way out of it,’ he told BBC Sport. ‘The games coming up are all huge. I think they will have just enough.
‘The fact we are mentioning Spurs going down is unbelievable. It’s absolutely ridiculous really.
‘Whether you blame recruitment or the owners, it would be catastrophic for that club. I have heard some fans suggest going down could be the best thing. I just don’t see that.’
Tudor himself also says he is confident Spurs will not go down, feeling he has good players who are doing the wrong things.
‘Of course I am confident because I believe these are good players with bad habits. It’s all about that,’ the Croatian told Sky Sports.
‘They are good. Nobody can tell me they do not have quality. But we need to change our mental sharpness. To be in the game from the first minute, and to have the physicality to do this.’
Despite being in a relegation fight, Spurs remain in the Champions League and will find out their last 16 opponents on Friday.
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Ian Wright pinpoints worrying sign for Spurs in relegation battle: ‘That don’t look good!’ | Football
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